MONTPELIER - Efforts to bring back passenger rail service to western Vermont are a big step closer to reality.

On Thursday a special legislative committee authorized the Agency of Transportation to spend federal grant money to upgrade the rails from Rutland 20 miles north to Leicester.

In September, state officials announced the U.S. Department of Transportation was providing an $8.9 million grant to help pay for improvements along a 20-mile stretch north of Rutland. Those funds and another $9 million that has already been authorized will be used for the project.

Once the project is complete, all but 12 of the 75-mile stretch between Burlington and Rutland will have been upgraded. State officials could apply as soon as January for grants to upgrade the final 12 miles.